White JC Penney Employee Caught On Camera Assaulting Black Customer

The video shows a J.C. Penney employee holding an African-American girl in headlock while her family shouted at him to let her go.

Lately, retail giant J.C. Penney seems to be making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Just days after a woman was filmed at a Louisville store shouting racist remarks at another customer for allegedly cutting the line, another disturbing video has emerged from one of the store locations in Indiana, showing a white employee holding a black girl in headlock.

The incident took place at the University Park Mall in Mishawaka after the worker allegedly told an African-American family to leave the store, saying, “You don’t belong here.” As the family was making its way out, the girl knocked over a display, prompting the J.C. Penney employee to attack her.

The footage shows the man holding the girl as the people around yell at him to “Let her go!” and “Get off of her!”

“She didn’t even do nothing,” someone said in the background. “She’ll pay for it! She can pay for it!”

The girl also shouted at the man to let go of her, but he responded with “Back off!” and refused to remove his hands. It wasn’t until the mall security arrived and handcuffed the customer that the employee let her out of his grasp.

As the WNDU reports, the girl was placed in the security room. The mall released her once her father showed up.

Although the family does not feel comfortable going on camera to share the story, they are now looking into taking legal action. The victim said if the J.C. Penney employee had just let her go, “she would have been willing to stay put and talk.”

Incidents of racist and xenophobic harassment are on the rise in the United States. While it is unclear what exactly happened before the assault, the fact is it couldn’t have been as bad to warrant such abuse and humiliation.

Restraining a girl — or a person of any age or gender, for that matter — by holding them in a headlock is not acceptable by any means. Even if it’s not a race-related incident, it is still extremely disturbing.